Should have named her Houdini

[Kerri B. & Zoey]

So Saturday I spent most of the afternoon putzing around the house cleaning up between puppy naptimes.  Late that afternoon, I planned to go visit my bestie & see her new house.  I couldn't take Zoey with me, so I made sure to get some playtime in with her, took out to potty and then rearranged her pen so that she could have a larger space on the tile in the entry to move around in, have her food & water and would still be ok if she had an accident.  I put the pen up to block entry into the kitchen and family room.  Then the babygate that I have at the bottom of the stairs blocked off that entry.  I left on the light and some music and gave Zoey kisses goodbye.

 

Its about a 30 min. trip each way to their new house, so I figured I would be gone at least 3 hours.  I have left her alone before for this long, but in a smaller confined space.  

 

So I get home (a little later than I wanted).  I walk in the garage door expecting to be greeted by her smiling face and wagging tail and the entrance to the kitchen.  As I open the door...no Zoey.  I set my stuff down calling her name again.  Still no Zoey.  I walk up to the gate and look around the corner....NO Zoey...WTD!  I pick up the phone thinking maybe my dad dropped by for something, found her alone and took her with him.  But then why was the music and light still on.  As I dialed the phone and was talking to myself I hear a whine.  It's coming from upstairs!  OH NO.  I go upstairs and find her happy as a clam at the top of the staircase wagging her tail & jumping in delight.  WTD...how did she get up here...the babygate was closed and latched!  What is she...a mouse?  Now she has to show me all the fun she had.  She has peed twice in the spare bedroom (which she has never been allowed in).  She has peed in the office and shredded paper (hope it wasn't something important) as well as torn some wood off the side of a wicker laundry basket.  The office is also a room she has never been allowed in.  I guess it could have been worse, because my bedroom door was open and my closet door (to think of what she could have done in my closet...yikes).  So all in all, the destruction could have been a lot worse, but what still had me puzzled was how the hell did she make it past the gate?  

 

So yesterday I decide to spy on her and figure out how she accomplished this.  She was distracted playing with one of her toys and I went upstairs and latched the gate behind me.  After a minute or so she realized I had gone upstairs.  I was peeking around the corner watching from overhead as she comes up to the gate sniffing around it, then moves to the side with the latch on it.  The opening from the end of that side to the wall does not look that big, but she manages to stick her head through, then wriggle the rest of her body through the gate!  So I guess the babygate is a little less effective than I thought...LOL.  She's like a little Houdini...at least for the next few weeks till she can no longer fit through it.  Never a dull moment around here.  

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

sounds like she had a great time while you were gone... smart girl..

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sounds like Zoey wasn't bored while waiting for you to come home.

[Anna and Achilles]

They are clever!!!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Zoey-I was hoping she would find you asleep in some comfy place, not doing damage (potty I may understand)

We had those baby gates with the crisscross weave pattern and Myla would climb up over them and get stuck in the room she wasn't supposed to get into! They are too smart for their own good!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

OMD, I'm not surprised.  These little ones can wiggle their bodies through some really small spaces.  Guinness used to do that all the time.  I'm just glad that there wasn't lots more damage.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Oh Zoey Houdini, you are quite the magician. Now use your magical powers to clean up those pee stains! Sounds like she had a great time entertaining herself while you were gone.

[Phyllis & Duffy]

I'm sorry - it's too funny not to laugh.  Duffy was a puppy like that.  We'd go out and come back and he would have totally destroyed the den.  It looked like a burglar had been there.  All 13 pillows from the sectional sofa where on the floor.  The sectional was in all kinds of sections all going different directions, magzines torn up, anything left in there was gone - he had a party.  What fun he had.  Sadly, he moved on to pulling the zippers off the pillows and pulling out all the batting.  We should have caged him, but we didn't.  He turned 4 in June and seldom does this anymore; I didn't say doesn't, I said seldom.  We do have a baby gate, still, that blocks him from getting into the rest of the house from the kitchen that we put up everytime we go out.  He is so big, that all he'd need to do was walk over it, but he never has. It's hard not to laugh when you are so angry, but who can resist that face when he sees you come in!